The two books belong to two entirely different epochs of literary lineage viz., the early modern and the post-modern converging on a cross-literary mosaic
The Valley of Fear
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Publisher: Readings, Main Boulevard, Gulberg 2, Lahore
Pages: 172; Price: Rs.160/-
Title: The Romance of the Missing Couple – An Epic
Author: Naeem Khan Eusophzye
Publisher: Dost Publications, St.15, I-9/2, Islamabad
Pages: 256; Price: Rs.550/-
Arthur Conan Doyle’s (1859-1930) The Valley of Fear is a detective story focused on the secretive but eventful exploits of his legendary creation Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in 1915 followed by an interminable series of periodic editions to this date.
Naeem Khan Eusophzye (b. 1944), a brilliant Pakistani writer in English (and an erstwhile bureaucrat) has recently brought out his debut fictive publication titled The Romance of the Missing Couple – An Epic, based on ‘a true story of love, passion and horror that jolted the beautiful glens of Chitral’.
The aforesaid books, being jointly reviewed here, belong to two entirely different epochs of literary lineage viz., the early modern and the post-modern converging on a cross-literary mosaic of mystery, suspense, and conflict, rooted in and accruing from the ever-grim human situation, fictionalized in the instant works.
The Valley of Fear
It is a popular Sherlock Holmes story of the underworld of crime, of which the popular ingredients are impersonation, ganging (mafia), murder, and detection.
The novel is divided into two parts: Part 1 is captioned The Tragedy of Birlstone, with seven chapters reading The Warning; Sherlock Holmes Discourses; The Tragedy of Birlstone; Darkness; The People of the Drama; A Dawning Light; and The Solution.
The second part titled The Scowrers also contains as many chapters namely The Man; The Bodymaster; Lodge 341, Vermissa; The Valley of Fear; The Darkest Hour; Danger; and The Trapping of Birdy Edwards, followed by the Epilogue.
The narrative is multi-thematic — fear, faith, deception, observation, and morality are its staple themes. ‘The Valley of Fear’ has a physical existence (the Vermissa Valley encircling the heart of the Pennsylvanian coal mines), and also a symbolic place in which Douglas, one of the major characters of the novel, finds himself inescapably stuck up. The relationship between Holmes and Watson, his peer, in Holmes stories is based on mutual faith which never falters even in the gravest of situations befalling the duo. Deception is employed here for both ‘moral and immoral reasons’. Porlock (an agent to Moriarty), Moriarty (the infamous mastermind behind Douglas’ demise, only ‘referenced’ but does not ever actually appear in the novel), and Douglas (impersonating as McMurdo and Birdy Edwards) are either agents or victims of deception. Doyle seems to prompt his readers to consider every detail dispassionately to pre-empt any preconception or prejudice on his part.
And finally morality; the Scowrers are drenched in vice and violence whereas the ‘moral conundrum’ of McMurdo implies an ironic ambivalence which tends to taint his indemnity vis-à-vis his avowed struggle against the demonic forces of evil the Scowrers symbolize. The Valley of Fear is thus ‘a well-plotted work (of fiction), with great dialogue and powerful characters – well worth the read’.
The Romance of the Missing Couple
It is the writer’s debut novel. Being a bureaucrat and literati might seem ‘a curious paradox’ at first sight, but he thinks that he has resolved it by intermingling his observations and experiences as a public servant with his literary pro-creativity. ‘As a student at first and later as a writer, I have always been obsessed with grabbing up any potentially useful material that I come across, to process it for my upcoming literary ventures. My curiosity would keep prompting me to look for something of unique and significant value to embroider my future writings.’ One fine morning, therefore, he was able to dig out ‘an old dilapidated file, stuffed with spine-chilling details of a true story peeping out from its worn-out pages’ where-after he ‘set out spinning the series of reported events into a web of narrative with a touch of fiction’, and the writer in him ‘undertook to transmute the episodes’ he collected from the available heap of documents into the present work.
The novel is spun around a factual heart-rending incident involving a young Swiss couple named Ernst Zeller and Marianne Zeller who had been married back home in February 1973 and were later on mercilessly done to death in October 1977, during the course of their eventful visit to Chitral in Pakistan. Probably they had fallen ‘a victim to the greed, lust and avarice of some diabolical persons’ and lost their lives.
Noted journalist and litterateur, Syed Mazhar Ali Shah of the National Herald Tribuneviews the language of the novel as ‘down-to-earth’. Though it is formally not a crime thriller yet in his opinion it is quite close to one because of the mystery shrouding the gruesome murder of the Swiss couple in the picturesque terrain of Chitral.
Ejaz Rahim, a renowned poet and critic of English, calls the book an ‘epic on love’ wherein ‘the writer has developed a credible story of passion, love and greed. The enormous capacity of the human race to face suffering in the path of love provides an epic flavour to this book. Indeed the flame of love burns through the pages of this work, bringing East and West together with artistic empathy and an exquisite touch of compassion’.
Eminent archaeologist Ms Sayed Gul Kalash pronounces that the novel is based on a romantic story which emanates from a European capital and ends up in the Kalash valley of Birir. According to her, the author seems to have dilated upon ‘the core values and cultural topography of the Kalash Highlanders but not as a conventional narrative’. The veiled saga of the Kalash tribes is unravelled in the book by depicting their ‘beliefs, social practices and value-driven perspective of life’.
The book is split into eighteen (18) chapters of varying length with self-speaking sub-heads. The novel reads like a chronicle – of events leading to the gory act of murder of the unfortunate couple and its aftermath. The author seems to have brought all his academic, administrative, and legal knowledge and expertise to bear upon the trail of incidents narrated in the book within the framework of a fictional menu, so to say. The imaginative verisimilitude grafted on the plot of the novel in the backdrop of the actual facts of the case, though artistically conceived, seems to lack the credo of a fictional narrative nonetheless.
All said, Naeem Khan Eusophzye has successfully ventured to fictionalize a gruesome incident into a mystery story, dexterously woven into a narrative enclosing characterization, conflict, convolution, and condemnation – its quintessential elements. His lucid expression and command of the English language tend to enhance its worthiness as a work of art.
